Prince Albert city council approves hotel for the Yard District

A new hotel development is moving ahead in Prince Albert's growing yard district. Jasmine Pelletier has more on the expected impact.

Prince Albert city council decided to move ahead with the development permit for a hotel in The Yard district near the new leisure centre.

“You’re providing options for people,” Prince Albert Mayor Bill Powalinsky said. “You’re able to bring on larger events. You’re able to pull people in from more areas. That creates an economic spin off for other businesses in town, as well. I believe it will increase taxation revenue for the city.”

The build will be located at 4284 7th Ave. East on the same site as the new Discount Liquor Store, which is currently under construction by the same permit applicant.

While the site was initially supposed to include 119 parking spaces, the city approved the permit with 100 spaces, deciding that it was time for the project to move forward.

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts sent to your device

“You look at, well, what can we accommodate?” Powalinsky said. “What likely is going to happen with the flow of traffic and with the flow of parking? So, it’s a reasonably well calculated decision that this is something we can accommodate.”

The zoning bylaw allows parking space reductions if justified by a traffic and parking analysis.

Bylaw updates in recent years increased the maximum building height for hotels in the zoning district up to six-storeys, which will be the height of the new build.

The permit applicants also applied for the new Commercial & Multi-Unit Residential Construction Incentive Program, which was approved this summer and offers a declining tax abatement over four years with full taxation by the fifth year.

“They’re quite anxious to get the project going as early as this fall,” Powalinsky said about the applicant. “Completion timeline, we’ll get more information on that as the project unfolds.”

The city shared that comparable hotels in the area contribute approximately $270,000 annually in municipal taxes.